UMKC Faculty Senate Meeting Minute Notes
Meeting 17 February 2015 3:00—4:30
Plaza Room, Administrative Center (Volker Campus)
Present: Peggy Ward-Smith, Kathleen Kilway, Buddy Pennington, Nancy Stancel, Virginia
Blanton, Laurie Ellinghausen, Viviana Grieco, Tom Mardikes, David Van Horn, Zach Shemon,
Roger Pick, Marilyn Taylor, Ed Gogol, Katherine Bloemker, Yugi Lee, Mark Johnson, Carolyn
Barber, Julia Atiles, Michael Wacker, Eduardo Abreu, Margaret Brommelsiek, Orisa Igwe,
Brenda Dingley, Susan Sykes Berry, Jacqueline Hawkins
Absent: Connie White, Christopher Holman, Sean O’Brien, Tarak Srivastava
Excused: Carole McArthur, Dee Anna Hiett, Jerry Wyckoff, Mark Sawkin
Guests: Curt Crespino, Anne Spenner
Welcome and Announcements
Chair Ward-Smith welcomed a new senator, Katherine Bloemker (Computing and
Engineering), who is replacing Gregory King for the spring semester. Deans Witte
(Conservatory) and Truman (Computing and Engineering) addressed their evaluations with their
respective faculty.
Chair Ward-Smith requested nominations for the Secretary position be submitted by the
end of the all faculty meeting on March 3rd.
Approval of Agenda
Agenda approved.
Provost Comments
Interim provost Cindy Pemberton requested that the senators let their faculty know that
UMKC received national recognition with its recent Carnegie classification for community
engagement (http://info.umkc.edu/news/umkc-earns-carnegie-classification-for-community-
engagement/). This honor is directly related to the many things faculty and students are doing in
the community, and it fits with UMKC’s mission and strategic plan. UMKC is one of three
hundred universities that have received this recognition.
Don Cupps is the new chair of the Board of Curators, and he is making this year the “year
of the student.”
There is a new chair of the Board of Curators, Donald Cupps, and he is making this year
the “year of the student.” He is focusing on university services in select areas, including advising
and mental health and safety. Each campus will be involved in gathering data on these services
to students.
Provost Search Committee Update
Senator Johnson (Dentistry) is serving as the Senate representative on the provost search
committee and provided an update on the search. The search committee met for the first time two
weeks ago. Johnson was soliciting information from faculty regarding what the faculty would
desire from a Provost candidate. Many items were discussed about what the committee would
like from a candidate. The firm is collecting names and approaching candidates. If any person
has someone whom they would like to nominate, that name can be sent to Senator Johnson
(MarkJohnson@umkc.edu).
The process will get fully started at the end of March when the committee will start
reviewing portfolios and at that point Senator Johnson will not be able to speak about the process
or specific candidates. After reviewing portfolios and prioritizing candidates, there will be some
airport interviews and then campus visits. The firm hinted that it would hope to get 30-40
portfolios.
Senator Johnson offered to attend any faculty or staff meeting, hear comments and take
questions to the search committee. The search committee roster includes:

Lawrence Dreyfus, Research Services, Search Committee Chair

Curtis Crespino, Advancement and External Relations, Search Committee Vice
Chair

Adrienne Hoard, College of Arts and Sciences

Brent Never, Bloch School of Management

Cindy Russell, School of Nursing and Health Studies

Deep Medhi, School of Computing and Engineering

Devon Cancilla, Academic Affairs

Jennifer Lundgren, College of Arts & Sciences

John Herron, College of Arts & Sciences

Juan Bettancourt-Garcia, Student Government Association President

Kimiko Gilmore, Community Representative

Laurie Ellinghausen, College of Arts and Sciences/Faculty Senate

LaVerne Berkel, School of Education

Mark Johnson, School of Dentistry, Faculty Senate

Mel Tyler, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management

Mike Plamann, School of Biological Sciences

Nancy Levitt, School of Law

Nancy Mills, Emeritus College/Retiree Representative

Peter Witte, Conservatory of Music and Dance

Russ Melchert, School of Pharmacy

Steve Owens, General Counsel and UM System Representative

Steve Pankey, School of Medicine and Staff Council Representative

Stuart Hinds, University Libraries
Report from UMKC Communications (Curtis Crespino, Anne Spenner)
Curt Crespino and Anne Spenner presented at Senate on how UMKC Communications
spreads the word regarding faculty activities and accomplishments. There are many
communication channels for faculty news, such as local, regional and national media, UMatters,
each unit’s website, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, UMKC-produced magazines,
eRoos and other alumni publications.
Four PR staff members write about faculty and students, and more than 100 stories
featuring UMKC faculty were published in newspapers, broadcasts, television or radio last year.
A couple hundred more were published in UMKC venues, but many opportunities were turned
down because there was not someone available to provide more information for the specific
news item.
A story can be submitted many ways. One of them is as a tip in UMatters. There is also a
“contact us” option for UMatters and faculty can even write their own story. Contact a member
of the PR team. Each academic unit has a designated Communications staff person.
The PR team offers many resources including how to increase appeal of the story in the
media, create a customized media list based on the topic area using a media database, provide
media training (how to sound and look your best on the TV, radio) and also “practice” interview
for print media. The PR team can identify opportunities that make your story seem more
appealing to newspaper or television.
There are two new opportunities for faculty. 1) Join “Faculty Media Opportunity” email
list. When the PR team receives media opportunity, it needs people to quickly help identify
faculty experts who might be available on short notice. 2) Phase II of the UMKC Going Places
Storytelling Project will focus on student/faculty stories. This is happening next semester and the
goal is to have 100 student stories on that project as well as having faculty/student combinations.
Please forward any possible options.
More information can be found on the Strategic Marketing and Communications website:
http://www.umkc.edu/mcom/index.cfm.
IFC Update
IFC met on Thursday. There were many IFC CRRs passed by the Board of Curators, with
the caveat that the IFC has the right to review them and recommend changes if necessary. IFC
agreed that Chair Ward-Smith would continue to be the IFC representative that will push this out
to the campus and keep people informed.
MU School of Law faculty sent a letter objecting to the process of revising the Collected
Rules and Regulations around Title IX. Because of these concerns, a Q & A session will be
scheduled so that faculty can get more information regarding the changes and their impacts to the
university.
UMKC Faculty Bylaws Revisions
Bylaws changes for Faculty Senate must be approved by Senate and then voting-eligible
faculty before they can be submitted for ratification by the Board of Curators. Senate voted on
the following three revisions.
1) Those who are eligible to serve as representatives shall be UMKC voting Faculty. Members of
the Executive Committee must be regular voting Faculty.
2) In the case of an IFC vacancy, Senate shall determine at a regular or special meeting whether
to fill the vacancy temporarily or for the duration of the unexpired term. For a temporary
replacement, Senate shall elect a current or prior Senator to fill the vacancy. For replacements for
the unexpired term, nominations will be requested from among current or prior Senate members,
and a ballot containing the names of nominees will be sent to all voting Faculty. The person
getting the highest number of votes will assume the office for the duration of the unexpired term.
Should that person be unable to serve, the person with the next highest number of votes in that
election will assume the office. In urgent cases, so as to provide full representation at IFC, the
Senate Executive Committee may appoint a current Senator to attend IFC meetings until the
Senate can address the vacancy at its next regular or special meeting.
3) When committee nomination requests are received from the campus administration or from
the Student Government Association, the council Senate will designate nominees if it deems
such action to be appropriate, following all applicable Collected Rules and Regulations. The
Senate shall report at the next general Faculty meeting all requests and actions taken.
These changes shall be read at the March 3rd all faculty meeting and then issued via
Blackboard to all voting-eligible UMKC faculty for approval. Voting results shall be reported at
the April 7th Faculty Senate meeting.
Adjournment
Adjourned at 4:30 p.m. Senate then met in closed session.